I’ve been m.i.a. for a while and I thought I’d share why: I’m participating in Inktober this year, putting my own spooky spin on it. Plus I’ve been reading like crazy.
Keeping my mind busy outside of work has helped me process a lot of the ups and downs of this week and last when it comes to politics, events, and COVID-19. Plus Election day is getting closer and I find myself increasingly anxious, I think a lot of people are.
So here we go, my first ten ink/pencil drawings for this year’s Inktober plus what I’m currently reading Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff (it’s amazing!)
I’d love to know if anyone is participating in Inktober or if you’re currently reading anything wonderfully spooky. Let me know! Leave a comment below or contact me directly.
Yesterday, I finally decided that I was going to read Mary L. Trump’s book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. For the last month, I had been reading numerous articles anticipating the release of Mary’s book. Curious about what she had to say, I finally bought the kindle version yesterday. Of course, I’m not surprised that Trump tried to stop her from publishing this book in the final countdown before the election.
What to expect?
Well, I am going to read and review Mary’s book. I plan to have my review done by the end of this month or sooner. I am going to pick the book apart like I would any other piece of written content. Concept/theme, structure, and clarity. I’m curious about Mary’s angle and how the book’s subject matter will be plotted out. I am also eager to go over her references and sources.
Trying to balance out life, staying-at-home, and how much time I spend on social media. Being home all the time has its side effects. My beer gut is growing. I have unlimited access to the news and social media if left unchecked. And without a routine, I will surely spiral into chaos. But I’ve stuck to my routine and continue to read and write all the time.
I allow myself about one to two hours a day of ingesting news. I read The New York Times and The Salt Lake Tribune. Tapering down on social media has also helped bring my stress levels down.
How long is this going to last?
We’re heading into the FIFTH MONTH of COVID-19. In the U.S. there is still chaos, misinformation, and poor leadership. But I have hope, and with the Black Lives Matter movement still going strong, my fingers are crossed that this year’s election is not a repeat of 2016.
Peaceful Protests Escalated by Cottonwood Heights PD
In Salt Lake City, local news continues to smear peaceful protesters, casting them as rioters causing trouble. This weekend a peaceful protest in Cottonwood Heights was escalated when police showed up outnumbering protesters. They herded protesters, had their cars towed, and then assaulted and pepper-sprayed them. I watched so many live videos on Instagram from protesters that showed the police attacking and brutalizing them. Horrible.
It’s like the police just don’t get it. Their actions are why peaceful protesters are on the streets. The Salt Lake Tribune published an article that, in my opinion, aimed to cheer for the Cottonwood Heights Police Department while smearing the peaceful protesters. Yesterday there was another protestwhere Trump and Blue Lives Matter supporters showed up but more concerning is that Utah Citizens’ Alarm group was there and armed with guns, a “deterrent to violence,” said Casey Roberston, founder of the group in the Salt Lake Tribune’s article.
The Utah Citizens’ Alarm showing up with guns is not to deter violence. It’s to intimidate protesters, visually threatening them by carrying guns, implying that they will shoot them if protesters become “violent”. Of course, the police do nothing about this group, and I’ve read articles that many in this group know the police. They are working in tandem with them. The group says on their Facebook page that they support peaceful protests. There is something unsettling about the way they talk about themselves and their mission.
Black Lives Matter Utah works in cooperation with CAG, The Coalition for Police Reform, The United Front Civil Rights Organization, Brown Berets, Cop Watch Salt Lake City, SURJ, United Front White Allies, Utah Against Police Brutality, and many other activist groups. We encourage you to join every group and support them all. We are in no competition with any other group. All active civil rights groups which fight against oppression should be supported.
This group is what you make of it. If you have an idea then suggest it and run with it. Lead. Do not be afraid to lead and to help the movement.
385-743-0298
They provide a phone number and a list of other organizations they work with.
This is their about page. To me it is concerning. Look at the parts I’ve bolded. It’s like they’re spinning that they support peaceful protests, solidarity, but the wording is vague and general. I don’t trust this group and it concerns me that this group has 18.3k members. If they have nothing to hide and they are working with law enforcement why is the group set to PRIVATE?
About This Group
MISSION STATEMENT
Utah Citizens’ Alarm works to maintain peace in the state of Utah by educating its communities in areas of preparedness and self-defense; fostering unity between citizens of all backgrounds and races as a show of solidarity in times of disaster and civil unrest; and building strong relationships with law enforcement through cooperative community efforts.
VISION STATEMENT
Utah Citizens’ Alarm creates an environment of safety, preparedness, and peace in communities and neighborhoods across our state through strong, organized citizen alliances.
OUR START
In June of 2020, concerned Utah citizen Casey Robertson made a life-changing decision to invite friends to take a stand against violence that had been accompanying protests over issues of racial inequality and police brutality. The result of his simple call to action on social media was a flood of local patriots ready and willing to join and support his cause of supporting peaceful protest while denouncing and deterring violence. The group grew quickly – by the thousands in a matter of days – and immediately became known as Utah Citizens’ Alarm.
It was Casey’s love for his country and his home town that prompted him to stand against violence after a Provo protest turned ugly, ending in the shooting of a driver trying to make his way through the crowd blocking an intersection. Now, along with inviting Utah residents to stand against violence at protests, Casey also aims to help people form alliances in their own small communities that will create neighborhoods that are safe, protected, and prepared for all situations.
So Casey is helping small communities set up alliances, groups, of armed citizens to defend themselves? To protect peaceful protesters? To protect their neighborhoods from “violence”?
There is a difference between peaceful protesters gathering and ARMED CIVILIANS showing up to protests to “deter violence”.
I will be looking for more information about this group to prove my point wrong that Utah Citizens’ Alarm is not just a gun-toting group that shows up to intimidate protesters.
How obvious does it have to be? Do people not see what is happening here?
For months now, this specific group of protesters gathered every Sunday and danced in the streets. Dancing in the street is punishable by being pepper-sprayed, beaten, and threatened with felony charges?
I’m deeply disappointed in Utah. The response here to the protests is unacceptable and continues to sour. Watching Live Videos from KSL news on Facebook covering the protests is difficult; people comment that unemployed kids have nothing better to do than protest for criminals.
I see more and more “Trump 2020!” and “BlueLivesMatter” on Facebook and other social media platforms. Disgusting. I have been coming across comments that say the Black Lives Matter movement has been hijacked, used as an excuse to protest just about anything. Amazing, the ignorance is incredible.
How do these people supporting cops, not see the injustice, the brutality? Even when it happens right in front of them when police assault peaceful protesters? Is it possible that many of the same people that cheer “Trump 2020!” are also the ones spouting “Blue Lives Matter”? Hmmm.
I could go on and on but I’m going to wrap up my little opinion-rant.
A few days after my last post I had a breakthrough. I was working on my daily writing one morning and finally got up enough courage to look over the rough draft of my book I’ve been working on. I ended up editing and rewriting a few pages and before I knew it I had worked my way all the way to Part 3 of my book. I was surprised, after more than a month of struggling I had just slipped back into working on my book. After a couple more days I finished my third rough draft of my book at a local coffee shop. The final chapters still need quite a bit of work and I need to solidify a final ending but the climax action scenes (the most important stuff) is all done.
I am so relieved that I was finally able to break through my wall, whatever it was. The expectations, the stress, the pain of doubting myself and my work. I know there is still more work to be done and I’m barely even close to having a finished manuscript but the progress I’ve made this last week pushes me to continue.
What else have I been up to?
I’m currently reading Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin, I forgot that I have read this book before and I get a sneaky feeling it might’ve been last year. I love the way this story is written and Levin’s style is something that I respond to, how he synthesizes facts and real-world events with the otherworldly and supernatural. By grounding his horrifying story with descriptions pulled from the real-world, he creates a foundation in which I can easily find myself falling for the trick of ‘is this possible?’ (of course not).
I”m also reading, Leonard Cohen’s Beautiful Losers. This work feels like a surreal dreamscape interwoven with sex. It is compelling, funny, and a little disorienting but I like Cohen’s writing. His style is different, free-flowing and almost scattered but when I take a closer look, I think it only feels ‘scattered’ because Cohen wants me to think it is.
What I’m listening to:
Thank you for reading and following me on my journey,
I’ve been in denial for a while now but I admit it, I’ve hit a wall. For the last month or so I have barely worked on my novel. Opening the googledoc and looking at a chapter, fiddling with the dialogue in another chapter, I always end up ignoring my book after about fifteen minutes. At the beginning of this year, I would spend hours a day and sometimes a whole day working on my book. Pumping out chapters or reworking them at break-neck speed, trying to get everything down on the page as fast as possible.
But I’ve felt stuck for a while, distracted by everything else going on in my life. I think I’m also distracting myself, starting and finishing new books while I have a whole pile that I’ve been meaning to finish for a couple months now. How does it feel to hit a wall? Like I can’t get anything done and the world is leaving me behind. I just can’t get back on the fast track to finishing my book right now.
There is also an overwhelming feeling of pressure whenever I think about my book. I know I need to work on the ending and solidify each chapter, rework dialogue here and there and round out my characters but I am worried about what comes after. Will I ever have a final product? Is it even worth my time to look for a publisher or should I think about self-publishing through kindle? I think I’m getting too caught up in my doubts.
I feel like I need a reset to clear my mind and get back to it.
like my Patti Smith bender, I think I’m gonna dive deep into Didion to keep my mind fresh
Listening to:
good music is always required
Overall, I already know what I need to do, just write. I’m sticking to my daily writing schedule and for last month wrote over 31,000 words. My daily writing consists of writing 1,000 words minimum a day, doesn’t matter what I’m writing, poetry, fiction, non-fiction as long as it is writing. I try not to make my daily writing into journal entries if I am lacking a focus and this is one of the hardest things to do. I know that as long as I stick with my daily writing, I can eventually get back into the groove of working on my novel.
To all my followers/readers and you, thanks for sticking with me,
I have so much time to read this summer and I am loving it! Here is a list of what I am currently reading and for what I am currently listening to here is my Spotify Summer Playlist
I’ve wanted to read this book for a couple years now. I finally picked up a copy and have been slowly reading it for the last couple weeks. The writing is refreshing and strange since it’s Stein who is writing the “autobiography” of her life partner Alice. There is something rhythmic in the writing and I suspect there is more than meets the eye with this book.
I just finished reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas only a couple weeks ago. I devoured it pretty quickly and found myself disturbed and entranced by Thompson’s style. I started reading Hell’s Angels right after and have not been let down. I am about half way finished with it already.
Starting slow, I read a little bit here and there of WCWilliams. I spent my time and slowly devoured his Imaginationsover the span of two years. I love every word of Williams writing and his style is all his own. I plan on reading In the American Grain at the same snail pace so that I can fully digest his work.
After watching the movie almost six years ago, I am still slightly disturbed by the images that have been seared into my brain which is weird and not to be taken lightly since I have a deep love for all things strange and disturbing. I have gotten the guts finally to trek the dangerous waters of reading the actual text. It is disorienting and complex but there is something in Burroughs writing that resonates with me and I am slowly becoming climatized to this curious novel.
I’ve been interested in Andy for a while now. There is something about him that has left a remarkable trace of most of the writers, poets, and musicians that I love and I want to know why. I figured I would start with this book and work my way into Andy’s world slowly. So far (I’m about a third in) it has been an intriguing journey and I think there is something spectacular about Andy’s little thoughts and vivid observations.
I am very picky when it comes to anthologies, collections, or selected works that attempt to have “all” the works that are “important” for a particular movement, style, or form of writing but I think I struck gold with this one. I love introductions and this one was amazing and pulled me in instantly. So far I’m working my way through the Jack Kerouac section and I am realizing how much I can learn from his writing.
My copy is a little outdated and makes funny references to “archaic” forms of technology, this edition was printed in 1991. I like Zinsser’s comments and attention that he gives towards changes in writing and his respect towards the variety of writers out there and readers alike (such as women writers and use of pronouns). Zinsser has a recognizable voice and comfortable yet concise writing style that I love to read. I would highly recommend this book (maybe a more recent edition too) to any writers out there. Also this book is on writing NONFICTION, I am trying to dabble in nonfiction but it is extremely painful for me.
I love Joyce, he is a writer with talents beyond so many many writers. I am also an admirer of Pound and his work. I have been slowly reading bit by bit, a letter here and there which makes for a good break while I’m reading all my others books. I also love to read the day to day casual letters between writers and artists.
I’ve read the complete diary of Virginia Woolf before but wanted to start collecting the volumes for myself. Woolf is a huge influence on my writing and her criticisms of writers and their works are extremely insightful and entertaining (even when it is brutal). She has a knack for making me laugh and also making me sympathize with her hardships. She is honest to the bone in her diary entries and leaves little out.
I cannot count how many times I have read Fight Club. I always find myself coming back to it as well as the works by Bret Easton Ellis when I need some stylistic guidance. I like to tear apart the chapters, over analyze them and admire Palahniuk’s unique writing style. There is plenty to dissect and learn from when it comes to writing fiction (and blending nonfiction into fiction I think).
I ate up the first half of this book the day I got it and fell into a whirlwind of decades-old feminist criticism and women’s rights which disturbingly sounds exactly the same as today’s. I love and admire Rich’s work and this selection of writing does not let down.
A lot to read and get through but I’ve been finishing a book every one-two weeks (which is pretty slow for me). I would love any reading suggestions! Please feel free to leave any book titles in the comments below.
